Next-generation games might cost $70

Michael Pachter, Wedbush Securities analyst and that guy who seems to always make ridiculously accurate (or very inaccurate) video game industry predictions, recently stated that next-generation video games may retail at $70 U.S.

There was a time in Canada a few years ago when most video games actually sold for about $69.99, then because of the Canadian dollar’s relative parity with the U.S. dollar, the prices slowly moved downward. If this price hike actually does occur, will video games in Canada be even more expensive?

During his presentation at SXSW 2013 in Austin, Pachter also explained that this will be the last generation of traditional game consoles and that the Durgano, Microsoft’s current code name for their next-generation system, will be the number one selling console over the next few years.

I still feel that traditional video game consoles aren’t going anywhere. They will continue to become more multifaceted devices that do more than just play video games, but they will never truly disappear like so many industry analysts are predicting.

Popular gaming website Destructoid released a collection of interesting statistics, grabbed from a screen shot Spike TV’s Geoff Keighley posted at Pachter’s SXWS presentation. They seem to back up my theory in a way.

Even though the Wii U is struggling sales-wise, it’s still predicted to sell about 30-50 million units over the course of its life (this is small compared to the Wii’s approximately 100 million). The PS4 is expected to sell 85-95 million units (up from the PS3’s 75 million) and the Durgango, could sell 95 million (up from the Xbox 360’s 75 million).